The Use of Fake News as Multimodal and Pedagogical Resources in Portuguese Language Teaching: A Case Study from the Application of Thematic Workshops in Portugal

The aim of this work is to demonstrate the results of a research project that has focused, as scientific objects, on the phenomenon of information disorder and its impacts on the dynamics of the functioning: 1) of societies; 2) the spaces of interaction/communication that are social networks; 3) the processes of teaching and learning for life (formal modality), co-constructed and consolidated in the school training space. Background: The activities carried out are part of the CoMMiTTEd Project 2021, an Erasmus+ action that takes a close look at Fake News constructed in the context specifically shaped by the Covid-19 pandemic, and which relates the emergence of the disease (and its proliferation) to minority groups, stimulating, on the one hand, scenarios conducive to the spread of hate speech, and, on the other, structures of oppression and exclusion. Methodology: In this sense, using a qualitative methodology with an interpretative-constructivist paradigm and exploratory characteristics (Babbie, 1986), a focus will be placed on the results obtained from the application of three thematic workshops in Portuguese territory. With the help of Case Studies (CoMMiTTEd Project 2022) that show systematic attacks on ethnic-racial minorities, migrants and refugees, for example, working with a target audience made up of Portuguese students between the 5th and 10th grade, we will discuss the added value and potential of working with Fake News as a pedagogical and multimodal resource in the classroom. This is thinking about an education committed to the Ethics and Aesthetics of Knowledge and the Promotion of Critical Thinking.